I bought a home in the IE of SoCal a few years ago that was a rental for at least a decade before. No lawn consideration, understandably.
My dogter developed the WORST allergies after moving, to the tune of $2k plus $160 in meds monthly. I started looking for potential causes and saw bermuda (most common grass here due to weather) is a common irritant. My friends with allergies couldn't visit me wo meds, so I figured I'd try to address my backyard that was a weed potpourri of unknown origin.
It was spring. I had no choice. My pup.
I dethatched twice, seeded w Jonathan green, watered the hell out of it. Discovered I not only had rampant common bermuda, but a large amount of years upon years of crabgrass, grubs, AND ancient sod someone laid over an entire jungle gym apparatus. Prev listing photos showed this.
A year of religiously reading everything here and researching, treating, FAILING, trying again (x5), I'm grateful. My pup's issues are… Likely not from the bermuda, lol
But I got a yard of "real" grass. I'm already seeing the bermuda try to make a comeback (85⁰+ streak), but i know how to handle it.
Other weeds? Sure. But I'm taking on the boss before revisiting lower levels. Thanks, redditors. Your info was invaluable.
(Pics are a progression from '22 to today, except last which was how it started)
by karmandreyah
2 Comments
Dethatching is a recent trend in lawn care that’s become more common thanks to youtube creators and other non-academic sources. As such, there’s a widespread misunderstanding/misinformation about the topic. This automatic comment has been created in the hopes of correcting some of those falsehoods.
Thatch is the layer of stems and roots, both living and dead, that makes up the top layer of soil. Grass clippings are not thatch and do not contribute to thatch. The thickness of thatch can only be assessed by digging into the soil.
Some thatch is good. While some academic sources say that under 1 inch of thatch is beneficial, most settle for half an inch. Thatch is beneficial for many reasons (weed prevention, traffic tolerance, insulation against high temps and moisture loss, etc) and should not be removed. Over half an inch of thatch may not warrant removal, but the underlying causes should be addressed. An inch or more of thatch SHOULD be addressed. Dethatching as a regular maintenance task, and not to address an actual thatch problem, is NOT beneficial… Again, some thatch is good.
Thatch problems are not typical. Excessive thatch is a symptom of other issues, such as: over-fertilization, overwatering, regular use of fungicides, excessive use of certain insecticides, high/low pH, and the presence of certain grasses (particularly weedy grasses).
Dethatching with a flexible tine dethatcher (like a sunjoe) causes considerable short-term and long-term injury to lawns, and is known to encourage the spread of some grassy weeds like bentgrass, poa annua, poa trivialis, bermuda, nimblewill etc. In some RARE cases, that level of destruction may be warranted… But it must be done with great care and attention.
A far less damaging alternative to dealing with excessive thatch is core aeration. Core aeration doesn’t remove a significant amount of thatch, and therefore doesn’t remove a significant amount of healthy grass. BUT it can greatly speed up the natural decomposition of thatch.
Verticutters and scarifiers are also less damaging than flexible tine dethatchers.
For the purposes of overseeding, some less destructive alternatives would be slit seeding, scarifying, manual raking, or a tool like a Garden Weasel. Be sure to check out the seeding guide [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/s/pUsKCxyvwQ)
Additionally, be sure to check the list of causes above to be sure you aren’t guilty of those.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lawncare) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sorry. Last pic was Jan 22. First was before I dethatched, one year ago.
Sod over *pebble base of jungle gym apparatus